India’s Dhruv Sitwala hopes of victory and emerging champion were dashed by Singapore’s Peter Gilchrist, who with a last-ditch effort constructed an unfinished 201 points break to snatch a close 1500-1441 win in the 1500-up final of the 2023 Pacific International Billiards Championship, played at the Yarraville Club, Melbourne on Friday night.
The current India number 2, Sitwala was impressive and more consistent of the two finalists and had compiled notable breaks of 91, 89, 119, 188, 181, 107, 151, 193 and 219, but ran out of luck and had to settle for silver medal. In contrast, the former world champion Gilchrist played steadily but managed just one century break (109) and a series of substantial runs, before making the big one (201 unf), which counted in the end.
The Mumbai-based Sitwala had his chance. He was leading 1346-1299 and was on a 95 point break and seemed heading towards the finish line. But, he surprisingly missed a long in-off and Gilchrist grabbed the let-off with both hands and patiently accumulated the required number of points to clinch the win.
Earlier, in the 1200-up semi-finals, Gilchrist outclassed Australia’s Steve Mifsud by a massive 1200-209 point difference while Sitwala got the better of Englishman Robert Hall 1200-936.
In the 900-up quarter-finals, Gilchrist defeated India’s Dhvaj Haria 900-406, Mifsud narrowly beat Sourav Kothari 900-879, Hall charged past Australian Robbie Chilcott 900-428 and Sitwala trounced another Australian Joshua Burns 900-187.
Results – Finals: Peter Gilchrist (SIN) bt Dhruv Sitwala (IND) 1500-1441.
Semi-finals (1200-up): Peter Gilchrist (SIN) bt Steve Mifsud (AUS) 1200-209, Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Robert Hall (GBR)1200-936.
Quarter-finals (900-up): Peter Gilchrist (SIN) bt Dhvaj Haria (IND) 900-406, Steve Mifsud (AUS) bt Sourav Kothari (IND) 900-879, Robert Hall (GBR) bt Robbie Chilcott (AUS) 900-428, Dhruv Sitwala (IND) bt Joshua Burns (AUS) 900-187.